With politicians tripping themselves to come out in support of marriage equality, its hard to keep track of who has been at the vanguard of LGBT rights and who is just trying to ride some coattails. Fortunately Salon has produced this handy Gay Marriage Courage-Meter, which shows how much bravery various representatives displayed by supporting same-sex marriage.

It’s not simply cut along party lines: GOP stalwart Dick Cheney gets more props than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Below, Salon’s Benjamin Wheelock and Blake Zeff explain how it works:

On the x-axis is timing — who was ahead of the curve, and who just came to the party this week. The y-axis represents who showed guts and risked political capital for their support. Below the courage-meter is a short legend with background on the selections.

Former Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) – Outed as gay on the House floor two years earlier, the lone Republican to vote against Defense of Marriage Act (1996)

Hillary Clinton (former secretary of state) – An open question as to when she might have supported it had she not been secretary of state (and abstained from certain political discussions); announcement in 2013 bore no risk (2013)

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) – Was first GOP senator to come out for gay marriage, after his son Will came out to him (2013)

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) – Expressed support for gay marriage this week; represents state won by Mitt Romney and faces reelection next year (2013)

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) – Expressed support this week; represents red state and faces reelection next year (2013)

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) – A few months after winning reelection, expressed his support for gay marriage; represents state won by Romney (2013)

I have a problem with a few of these because they are not taking into consideration the absolute lack of risk for some.

There are many but I will use Cheney. He was the 800 lb gorilla brought in to give weight to the ticket because people felt Bush was a lightweight. Not only didn’t he advocate for gays but he was on the ticket for two of the most anti-gay campaigns run by a political party.

It was only after those campaigns were done, and he would never have to face another election that he happened to mention that he supported his daughter.

I feel that supporting a ticket that attacked gays while you had a gay daughter should knock off points, and saying something when there is no election etc… in his case also should have.

My comment for the other side, is should Gunderson be up so high? Not saying he wasn’t courageous but he was outed, he didn’t come storming out pushing for gay rights.

Mar 28, 2013 at 1:09 pm · @Reply ·

jniceny

Biden signed DOMA!!!!!

Mar 28, 2013 at 4:00 pm · @Reply ·

brent

Cheney beats the Clintons and Obama. I cant wait to read the comments on that. CAM, you said Cheney came out after the campaigns. Not true, in his debate with John Edwards he said he did not agree with President Bush, and that was in the middle of a tough campaign, not after.

Mar 28, 2013 at 11:55 pm · @Reply ·

John Doe

Cheney wasn’t silent when it came to LGBT equality, but he WAS rather quiet.

That is to be expected. When the President sets a policy, everyone around either follows or keeps their mouth shut (or at least partially shut). We’ve seen this with almost every administration. I remember it with Reagan, H.W. Bush and G. W. Bush. I don’t remember a Clinton scenario… but I’m sure he and Gore had many conflicts and differences behind the scenes. Same goes for the wives. They don’t go against their husbands… not publicly anyway.

Has Gore jumped on the equality bandwagon yet?

Mar 29, 2013 at 4:18 am · @Reply ·

John Doe

I would add to that list the Republicans that voted for equality in New York and Washington State, especially any that got voted out due to NOM afterwords.

Brent, He beats Obama why? Because he signed on to the most anti-gay campaign in history, his folks attacked Kerry for discussing his “Shame” in the debates, and he waited until after there were no elections to say anything about gay marriage. He said he never brought it up because it would have sunk Bush during the election.

Oh, and lets not forget he didn’t even attend his own daughters wedding to her partner. yeah, he was certainly out there carrying the Banner.